Here are a few photos. The first shows its habitat. My house protects the tree on the north and east, I have a stone outdoor shower in the west (right), and the tangerine is just south of the ginger and gives it shade from the sun except for a couple of hours around 2:00 when the ginger gets direct sunlight and the leaves curl some.

Here are the leaves if someone wants to see them!

And the roots and couple of the flower buds

Those buds will open and fully bloom. After that, usually the leaves all brown and die down and the roots/rhizomes go dormant for the winter.

You could leave it where it is. It will most likely come back in the spring and sprout new shoots.

However, once the leaves die down, I generally have harvest time. I dig it all up, keep a few pieces as "seed" rhizomes for next year and save the rest. For several weeks, I'll have fresh ginger to grate into anything I'm cooking that calls for ginger. A tablespoon or two of grated fresh ginger root is equivalent to a teaspoon of ground dried ginger.

The rest I slice and freeze. That's the best way I've found to preserve ginger for use later in the winter. You can also make "candied ginger" or fresh, home made ginger beer or ginger ale. You can also slice it, dry the slices and grind the dried slices to make your own "ground ginger powder."

The same procedures work for turmeric (curcama longa), although I've never actually tried "candied turmeric," there are recipes for that. Turmeric is often combined with ginger for turmeric/ginger beer or turmeric/ginger ale.

Thanks a bunch for the info. I heard ginger usually doesn't bloom the first year it's planted so I assumed it would be best to leave in in the ground rather than dig it up. I would love to begin enjoying my ginger but was prepared to be patient and wait for a better crop next fall.

First, congratulations, that's a good sized ginger plant you have. It thrived in your environment and care.

I've heard that about ginger not usually blooming in the first year as well, but that doesn't match my experience. Mine almost always blooms, and now that I'm living in north Georgia, and I grow all my ginger in containers, and all my ginger is "first year" ginger. Empirically, I think a lack of nutrients and lower water levels stimulate blooming. I apply light fertilizer to my ginger plants every waning moon (just after the full moon), but I don't fertilize at all after the fall equinox. Our weather also usually gets drier in the fall, and I don't water as often as we get rain in the summer. Nearly all of my ginger plants bloom every year. That's my observation, YMMV.

When I lived in Florida (Gulf coast, northwestern FL), I had both "in ground" ginger plants and container ginger plants. Second year plants grow to somewhere between 4 and 9 times as much rhizome by weight as first year harvest. However, if it gets too wet and rots in the ground, worst case you lose it all, and "best case" (not really good either), you get a weakened, half rotted plant that doesn't grow or produce as well as a first year plant.

Here's my thinking on this. If you save 4 "seed rhizomes" and plant them 18-24 inches apart in that planter next year, tend them the same way you did this year, you'll lock in the bottom of second year production. Save 6 "seed rhizomes" and your in the middle of good second year production. Any rhizome you have left after that is edible now. And you don't have to worry about your "seed rhizomes" rotting in the ground. You can also start those "seed rhizomes" indoors, to get bigger plants/better production when you do move them outdoors. I start mine after the winter solstice, again on the waning moon (much of my growing calendar is set by the moon and sun). I have to use a heat mat and supplemental (white fluorescent) light to get mine started, although I've had some luck with the heat mat and a south facing window.

Commercial ginger growers harvest everything every year. I don't know of any commercial growers that leave ginger plants in the ground over winter.

Oh, and when I'm selecting which rhizomes to save for "seed" for next year, the ones that bloom and go dormant in the fall are the ones I use for seed. Any plants that don't bloom and stay green through January (or sometimes March) in my well lit, warm "tropical room" are my spring "cooking ginger." That's not an issue for you this year, but next year, if you plant more than one plant, you might face that choice and situation.

Also, you might try mixing some turmeric plants in with your ginger next year. Similar growth, similar requirements for weather and soil conditions, and IMO, prettier foliage, or at least some variety in the foliage. Turmeric rhizome ("root") is available from some grocers and "health food" produce sources. Whole Foods in the Atlanta area carries it in their Atlanta stores (formerly Harry's Farmers Market stores).

Thanks again for the detail Common Cents. Just what I needed. I always liked ginger but didn't have a clue it would grow here. So I think I'm now in wait-and-see mode to watch the flowering and keep an eye on cold weather, I already selected a couple of rhizomes that were singles and ate them..yum!